Beethoven Ode to Joy (3)

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On stage.

Ludwig van Beethoven stood before the podium.

His back was to the audience, but he could hear even their breathing, the sound of them swallowing.

He thought he had already grown used to it, but the feeling of sinking alone into the void always brought a touch of sorrow to one side of his heart.

He swept back his hair and looked at the score.

The black notes writhing on the staff paper.

His imagination spread outward, picturing the tiny children as if they were playing separately, then gathering together to form a village, then a city, a nation, and even a world.

But in the place where those children would grow up.

In the village, in the city, in the nation, in the world...